{"id":1821991,"date":"2026-03-12T10:41:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T07:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1821991"},"modified":"2026-03-12T10:41:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T07:41:00","slug":"ex-naughty-dog-artist-who-helped-design-characters-for-highguard-promises-to-keep-fighting-the-good-fight-just-not-in-the-live-service-sphere-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1821991","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Naughty Dog artist who helped design characters for Highguard promises to keep fighting the good fight &#8211; just not in the live-service sphere, anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/highguard\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Highguard<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Ex-Naughty Dog artist who helped design characters for Highguard promises to keep fighting the good fight &#8211; just not in the live-service sphere, anymore<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">&#8220;I&#8217;m gonna keep putting beautiful Black women in games.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Close-of-Condor's-chin-artwork-for-Highguard.jfif?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Close of Condor's chin artwork for Highguard\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"Close-of-Condor's-chin-artwork-for-Highguard.jfif\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Del Walker<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Victoria Phillips Kennedy avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/1644925423.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Victoria Phillips Kennedy avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"1644925423.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/victoria-kennedy\">Victoria Phillips Kennedy<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      News Reporter<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-03-12T10:41:00+00:00\">March 12, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/ex-naughty-dog-artist-who-helped-design-characters-for-highguard-promises-to-keep-fighting-the-good-fight-just-not-in-the-live-service-sphere-anymore?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          1 comment<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"50adbca5-85d4-4527-8e29-842e617316c0\" data-name=\"Highguard\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Highguard\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Highguard\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Highguard\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Highguard\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Highguard\" title=\"Follow Highguard\"><br \/>\n  Follow Highguard<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>A former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/companies\/naughty-dog\">Naughty Dog<\/a> artist will continue to work on games, but is stepping away from live-service for good after the shut down of Highguard.<\/p>\n<p>Del Walker &#8211; a prominent vide game artist who has worked on a myriad of titles including The Last of Us Part 2, Suicide Squad, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/halo-wars-2\">Halo Wars 2<\/a> and Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, to name a few &#8211; recently shared an &#8220;early pass&#8221; of a character he helped create for Highguard.<\/p>\n<p>The character in question was a Warden named Condor, &#8220;a skilled explorer&#8221; who channels her &#8220;extrasensory abilities&#8221; through her bird companion. You can see her Highguard character trailer below.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Condor | Warden Vignette | Highguard\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Q4T5-PA2o5o?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/Q4T5-PA2o5o\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Condor | Warden Vignette | Highguard<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Condor | Warden Vignette | Highguard. <a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Q4T5-PA2o5o\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Now, with Highguard shutting down just a matter of weeks after it made its debut in January, Walker has shared his artwork designs for Condor.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This was my early pass of the Highguard character Condor before she was refined in-house,&#8221; he wrote on social media, adding while he was only part of the project for a short time, he will &#8220;keep putting beautiful Black women in games&#8221;. However, he will not be putting them into live-service games.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Ones that can disappear won&#8217;t get my time of energy anymore,&#8221; Walker said. When a commenter suggested he pitch his ideas for Deadlock &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/valves-deadlock-nearly-as-popular-as-overwatch\">Valve&#8217;s technically unreleased and invite-only shooter<\/a> &#8211; Walker again affirmed his stance on live-service work.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I do not plan to work on any live-service game again,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheCartelDel\/status\/2031957450581315745?s=20\">he replied<\/a>. &#8220;Successful or not.&#8221; You can check out Walker&#8217;s Condor artwork in the header above and below.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"artwork for Condor in Highguard showing her front and back\" height=\"1559\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/artwork-for-Condor-in-Highguard-showing-her-front-and-back.jfif?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.3989737010904426\" width=\"2181\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"artwork for Condor in Highguard showing her front and back\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"artwork-for-Condor-in-Highguard-showing-her-front-and-back.jfif\" height=\"1559\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.3989737010904426\" width=\"2181\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Del Walker<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Character art for Highguard's Condor\" height=\"2124\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Character-art-for-Highguard's-Condor.jfif?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 0.7142184557438794\" width=\"1517\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Character art for Highguard's Condor\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"Character-art-for-Highguard's-Condor.jfif\" height=\"2124\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 0.7142184557438794\" width=\"1517\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Del Walker<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Highguard closed out The Game Awards 2025, with a trailer introducing us all to a world of battling Wardens and their magical mounts. The game then launched in January, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-hits-almost-100k-concurrent-pc-players-on-launch-but-struggles-with-early-negative-steam-reviews\">quickly had a large influx of players on its release<\/a>. But there were a few complaints as well, with many disappointed with areas such as map size and the 3v3 game format.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The studio sought to address these issues with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguards-latest-update-includes-new-warden-ekon-who-can-ride-himself-yes-really\">a number of content updates and patches<\/a>, while also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-gets-permanent-5v5-mode\">making its once-limited-time 5v5 mode a permanent feature<\/a>. However, this was not enough, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-barely-has-several-hundred-people-playing-together\">dwindling player numbers<\/a> along with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/tencent-pulled-highguards-funding-two-weeks-after-launch\">reported lack of funding<\/a> have ultimately resulted in Wildlight deciding to cut its losses, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-will-shut-down-permanently-next-week-because-it-doesnt-have-enough-revenue-to-keep-anyone-employed-to-work-on-it\">pull the plug on Highguard<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>After one last patch earlier this month, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguards-final-update-which-wildlights-skeleton-crew-crunched-to-finish-goes-live-just-days-before-the-game-disappears-forever\">Highguard will go offline today<\/a>, 12th March. It follows other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/sony-cancels-two-more-live-service-games-including-one-based-on-god-of-war-report\">high-profile live-service shut downs and cancellations<\/a>, including Sony&#8217;s 5v5 sci-fi shooter Concord, which was taken<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/concord-pulled-from-sale-as-sony-admits-our-initial-launch-didnt-land\"> offline just two weeks after its PC and PS5 debut<\/a>, following a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/concord-sales-fail-to-lift-off-on-steam-where-just-660-people-played-at-launch\">lackluster launch and weak sales<\/a>. The game had been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/concord-was-in-development-for-roughly-eight-years-firewalk-dev-confirms\">in the works for eight years<\/a>, it had been said.<\/p>\n<p><!-- code from Primis - Eurogamer.net - eurogamer.net --><\/p>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- code from Primis --><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>A former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/companies\/naughty-dog\">Naughty Dog<\/a> artist will continue to work on games, but is stepping away from live-service for good after the shut down of Highguard.<\/p>\n<p>Del Walker &#8211; a prominent vide game artist who has worked on a myriad of titles including The Last of Us Part 2, Suicide Squad, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/halo-wars-2\">Halo Wars 2<\/a> and Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, to name a few &#8211; recently shared an &#8220;early pass&#8221; of a character he helped create for Highguard.<\/p>\n<p>The character in question was a Warden named Condor, &#8220;a skilled explorer&#8221; who channels her &#8220;extrasensory abilities&#8221; through her bird companion. You can see her Highguard character trailer below.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Condor | Warden Vignette | Highguard\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Q4T5-PA2o5o?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/Q4T5-PA2o5o\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Condor | Warden Vignette | Highguard<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Condor | Warden Vignette | Highguard. <a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Q4T5-PA2o5o\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Now, with Highguard shutting down just a matter of weeks after it made its debut in January, Walker has shared his artwork designs for Condor.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This was my early pass of the Highguard character Condor before she was refined in-house,&#8221; he wrote on social media, adding while he was only part of the project for a short time, he will &#8220;keep putting beautiful Black women in games&#8221;. However, he will not be putting them into live-service games.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Ones that can disappear won&#8217;t get my time of energy anymore,&#8221; Walker said. When a commenter suggested he pitch his ideas for Deadlock &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/valves-deadlock-nearly-as-popular-as-overwatch\">Valve&#8217;s technically unreleased and invite-only shooter<\/a> &#8211; Walker again affirmed his stance on live-service work.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I do not plan to work on any live-service game again,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheCartelDel\/status\/2031957450581315745?s=20\">he replied<\/a>. &#8220;Successful or not.&#8221; You can check out Walker&#8217;s Condor artwork in the header above and below.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"artwork for Condor in Highguard showing her front and back\" height=\"1559\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/artwork-for-Condor-in-Highguard-showing-her-front-and-back.jfif?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.3989737010904426\" width=\"2181\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"artwork for Condor in Highguard showing her front and back\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"artwork-for-Condor-in-Highguard-showing-her-front-and-back.jfif\" height=\"1559\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.3989737010904426\" width=\"2181\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Del Walker<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Character art for Highguard's Condor\" height=\"2124\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Character-art-for-Highguard's-Condor.jfif?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 0.7142184557438794\" width=\"1517\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Character art for Highguard's Condor\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"Character-art-for-Highguard's-Condor.jfif\" height=\"2124\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 0.7142184557438794\" width=\"1517\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Del Walker<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Highguard closed out The Game Awards 2025, with a trailer introducing us all to a world of battling Wardens and their magical mounts. The game then launched in January, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-hits-almost-100k-concurrent-pc-players-on-launch-but-struggles-with-early-negative-steam-reviews\">quickly had a large influx of players on its release<\/a>. But there were a few complaints as well, with many disappointed with areas such as map size and the 3v3 game format.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The studio sought to address these issues with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguards-latest-update-includes-new-warden-ekon-who-can-ride-himself-yes-really\">a number of content updates and patches<\/a>, while also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-gets-permanent-5v5-mode\">making its once-limited-time 5v5 mode a permanent feature<\/a>. However, this was not enough, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-barely-has-several-hundred-people-playing-together\">dwindling player numbers<\/a> along with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/tencent-pulled-highguards-funding-two-weeks-after-launch\">reported lack of funding<\/a> have ultimately resulted in Wildlight deciding to cut its losses, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-will-shut-down-permanently-next-week-because-it-doesnt-have-enough-revenue-to-keep-anyone-employed-to-work-on-it\">pull the plug on Highguard<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>After one last patch earlier this month, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguards-final-update-which-wildlights-skeleton-crew-crunched-to-finish-goes-live-just-days-before-the-game-disappears-forever\">Highguard will go offline today<\/a>, 12th March. It follows other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/sony-cancels-two-more-live-service-games-including-one-based-on-god-of-war-report\">high-profile live-service shut downs and cancellations<\/a>, including Sony&#8217;s 5v5 sci-fi shooter Concord, which was taken<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/concord-pulled-from-sale-as-sony-admits-our-initial-launch-didnt-land\"> offline just two weeks after its PC and PS5 debut<\/a>, following a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/concord-sales-fail-to-lift-off-on-steam-where-just-660-people-played-at-launch\">lackluster launch and weak sales<\/a>. The game had been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/concord-was-in-development-for-roughly-eight-years-firewalk-dev-confirms\">in the works for eight years<\/a>, it had been said.<\/p>\n<p><!-- code from Primis - Eurogamer.net - eurogamer.net --><\/p>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- code from Primis --><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Highguard Ex-Naughty Dog artist who helped design characters for Highguard promises to keep fighting the good fight &#8211; just not in the live-service sphere, anymore &#8220;I&#8217;m gonna keep putting beautiful Black women in games.&#8221; Image credit: Del Walker News by Victoria Phillips Kennedy News Reporter Published on March 12, 2026 1 comment Follow [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1821991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1821991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1821991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1821991\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1821991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1821991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1821991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}